Everyone hated the NCAA tournament selection show on TBS

Without getting too political here, it seems safe to say that we are living in a highly polarized era, in which people don’t appear to be seeing the same things and can’t agree on anything. So what TBS accomplished Sunday was truly impressive: Everyone who watched its NCAA tournament selection show hated it.

Now, words such as “everyone” in bloggy headlines are usually a form of intentional hyperbole, a way of getting the idea across that something was received with a noteworthy consensus. But in this case, a Twitter search for “selection show” while it was underway did not reveal any positive comments.

The tournament field had been presented by CBS every year since 1982, but this time TBS took the reins and tinkered with the format, most notably announcing the automatic qualifiers — hey, tell us something we don’t know — and the at-large teams before showing the brackets into which they were placed. That did not seem to go over well, nor did the fact that the teams were announced in alphabetical order, meaning that the drama ended early for many fans of both the selected squads and the schools that were snubbed, as opposed to the usual anticipation for the final bracket.

Even then, TBS got some of the schools out of order, in the sense that, for example, Nevada should have come before N.C. State (North Carolina State), or Tennessee before TCU (Texas Christian). Some also pointed out that the show’s audio seemed out of sync, the inclusion of a live studio audience was entirely unnecessary, and the banter from hosts Ernie Johnson and Greg Gumbel was cringe-inducing.

But wait! We finally found someone who actually liked TBS’s selection show: Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press.” This tweet of his might earned him harsher criticism than President Trump recently hurled his way.

Great change to the tourney selection show, name the teams quickly, spend more time on the brackets.

Fine, Todd was on board, so not absolutely everyone hated TBS’s selection show. But it was a near-unanimous negative consensus, meaning a lot of viewers will be happy to learn that the show is slated to return to CBS next March.

Des BielerDes Bieler writes for the Early Lead and the D.C. Sports Bog, scouring the Web to bring readers items of interest, both serious and amusing. He also covers fantasy football. He came to The Post in 1995. Follow